Lotus Eaters, The

1 9 7 2 – 1 9 7 3 (UK)
15 x 50 minute episodes

Erik (Ian Hendry) and Ann (Wanda Ventham) Shepherd run a bar on the island of Crete but all is not what it seems: both have murky pasts that they would prefer to forget.

Erik is a reformed alcoholic and Korean war veteran invalided out of the British army after a nervous breakdown. He left England after being controversially cleared of murdering a young girl.

Ann, unknown to him, is a ‘sleeping’ agent, who had been instructed to marry him as a cover. Unfortunately, she has become genuinely attached to him, and trouble looms when her superiors decide to activate her for a mission.

Their attempts to break her affections include sewing doubts in her mind as to whether Erik did, in fact, kill the girl in England.

This dilemma is brought into sharp focus when another young girl is murdered, under very similar circumstances.

Loyalties are tested to the very limit before the truth can be reached. The ending is charged with emotion, as police chief Michael Krasakis (Stefan Gryff) is forced to banish his friends from Crete.

The Lotus Eaters debuted on BBC2 on Sunday 23 April 1972 and was the first of a series of escapist dramas from then little-known writer Michael J. Bird.

The action was overladen with guidebook descriptions of temples which left the strong impression that a main aim of the series was to promote flagging Greek tourism.

Erik Shepherd
Ian Hendry
Ann Shepherd
Wanda Ventham
Captain Michael Krasakis
Stefan Gryff
Nikos
Anthony Stamboulieh
Nestor Turton
Maurice Denham
Katerina
Karan David
Cotton
Frank Duncan

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